Two New Foods: Produce and Protein

It’s been a big food day here in Michigan. You know how I love trying new foods, right? Well, I tried two new foods today! Did Christmas come early?

I blog about new types of produce regularly (just scroll down on the My Favorite Posts page for proof), and one of the new foods today was indeed a type of fruit. But the other was a new type of protein, which a very rarely blog about. So let’s save that for later and start with the produce, shall we?

New Produce. In November of 2010, I brought home something from the store that I had never heard of called a yali pear. Turns out it’s a type of Asian pear (which I also had never heard of), but my yali was a complete dud. When I cut it open, it was brown and disgusting. It was the first produce experiment on this blog that was a failure – and you can read all about it here.

I haven’t tried a yali pear since then – or any type of Asian pear, for that matter – partly because I was turned off, and partly because I don’t see them very frequently at stores. But when I arrived at my parents’ house the other day, a whole box of them that my dad had picked up at Costco were sitting on the counter. They weren’t exactly the same – instead of yali, they were an Asian pear variety called apple pears – but I decided to give one a go.

My apple pear:

There’s nothing in that picture to help suggest size, but they’re bigger than the average apple or pear – more like a large orange. Despite their name, apple pears are not a hybrid of apples and pears – they’re an Asian species of pear that look more apple-like than any other pear, hence the name.

The apple pear cut open (look, nothing brown or disgusting!):

I have high expectations for anything pear or pear-related, because I love pears. And the apple pear? Well, I don’t love it. It’s fine. It’s edible. I don’t wanna spit it into the trash and bust out the ipecac. But it’s not the best thing ever. The texture is different from other pears – it’s crispier and lighter, almost jicama-ish in texture. The flavor is more delicate, and the juice is more watery. I will say I liked the second apple pear I ate more than the first – and I don’t know if that’s because it was simply a better apple pear, or if I grew to like it more. There’s still a bunch of apple pears on the counter, so I’ll probably another one (or three), but I don’t think I’ll be rushing out to find them when I get back to California.

New Protein.Have you ever tried moose before? I tried it for the first time a few hours ago. The moose meat, strangely enough, showed up rather unexpectedly at our door. Here’s what happened:

My mom has a friend who lives in Maine. This guy is a hunter, and they were talking recently, and he told her that he bagged a moose (!) and had a butcher process it into all the different cuts and pieces. My mom joked that he should send her some, thinking that he wouldn’t actually do it, but when she got home today, there was a cooler of overnighted moose meat on the front porch! We thawed some of the moose steaks (from the hind quarters, according to his label). Raw moose steaks:

Those are all pretty small, as steaks go – I’d say the largest one was 6 ounces, tops. Look how lean they are! According to this chart, moose is lower in calories than USDA choice beef (130 calories per 100 grams vs. 180), and much leaner, too (.5% fat vs. 6.5%).

Sidebar: I just learned that the moose weighed 800 pounds and yielded 400 pounds of meat. WOWSA!

I was pretty excited to try moose. I don’t eat red meat very often nowadays, which meant this was an extra-special treat. I got out a 10-inch skillet, and started by sauteing 1/2 an onion and a bunch of baby portobello mushrooms. One those were cooked, I removed them, seasoned the steaks with a little pepper and Lawry’s seasoned salt, turned the heat the high, and tossed in the steaks so they’d get a nice sear. They only took a few minutes on each side (the hunter recommended not cooking them beyond medium-rare, or they lose their flavor), and at the end, I threw the onions and mushrooms back in:

I had a piece that was about 4 ounces:

I really enjoyed the moose, and my parents did, too. It was gamier and a little chewier than beef, and I thought it was delicious. And there’s a leftover steak in the fridge… maybe tomorrow I’ll make a moose sandwich!

Moose is the latest game meat that I’ve tried. A few months ago I blogged about eating alligator (read about it here), and I’ve also tried venison, bison, ostrich, and rabbit, and jerky pieces of elk and reindeer. I’ve always been interested in trying wild boar… maybe that’ll be next on the list?

The rest of my dinner, by the way, was a big salad and a bowl of vegetable barley soup.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, December 22nd, 2011 at 8:28 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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3 Responses to Two New Foods: Produce and Protein

Moose is very commin in my corner of the world, and I’m glad you liked it. We often grind it with spice and make meatballs. Nothing compares fto a moose steak though. For Christmas I’ve bought a smoked moose heart that we use on bread as a spread!

A friend made me moose breakfast burritos once, as he drove from Alaska to George via Texas. Delicious – but, growing up in Texas, I’ve always liked wild game. I recall that once he factored in all of the costs associated with hunting the moose, including license, ammo, the camping trip, and the processing, the meat he got came out to something like 28 cents a pound. You can’t be that price for delicious, low-fat protein (if you are a meat-eater, anyway). He ate it until it was gone, as a good hunter should. Glad you enjoyed it!

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In A Nutshell

A big hello to everyone that's discovering Keep It Up, David for the first time! I'm glad you're here.

My name is David. I live in Los Angeles, and I'm 35 years old. In January 2010, I began eating better and exercising more, so I could lose weight. So far, so good - I've lost and kept off 160 pounds! But it's a tough road, and I need to keeping finding new ways to keep motivated and on-track. I'll blog about my progress and share my struggles and successes. Join me on my journey!